‘Iran will not ignore Syrian people’s right to determine their destiny’

TEHRAN,Jan.20(MNA) – Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to the Supreme Leader, has said that Iran will not ignore the Syrian people’s right to determine their destiny. “Bashar al-Assad is our red line, we will support him to the bitter end, but it does not mean ignoring the Syrian people’s right to determine their destiny,” Velayati, who is the director of the Permanent Secretariat of the World Assembly of the Islamic Awakening, said in a recent interview with Al Mayadeen satellite television channel, the Persian service of the Fars News Agency reported on Saturday. “Syria is a UN member state which has a government and system. Is anyone from outside allowed to tell Bashar al-Assad to step down or not?” Velayati, who formerly served as Iran’s foreign minister, also said, “The main reason why we have concentrated on Syria is to prevent the collapse of the line of resistance against Israel.” Iran has put forward a six-point proposal to help resolve the Syrian crisis. In the proposal, whose details were released on December 16, Iran has called for a halt to all acts of violence in Syria, the distribution of humanitarian aid among the people affected by the crisis which requires the lifting of economic sanctions against the country, national dialogue followed by the establishment of a transitional government agreed by all sides and free parliamentary and presidential elections, release of those arrested for peaceful political activities and a fair trial of criminals, an end to the campaign of misinformation against Syria, and the establishment of a committee to assess the damage to the country’s infrastructure.